Facing elimination, the IceDogs came storming out of the gates in game 2 of their series against the Flyers. Dave VanGorkum scored two minutes into the game to give the IceDogs an early 1-0 lead. Five minutes later, Dan VanReenen scored for the Flyers to tie it up at 1-1.
Fifteen seconds into the second period, Duncan Vanderwal scored to give the IceDogs the lead once again. This was the only goal scored in the second period, so they went into the third with the IceDogs up 2-1.
The teams went back and forth throughout the third period, but Josh Tamminga & Rick Jones were both playing great in net for their respective teams.
It was looking like the 2-1 lead would stick for the IceDogs and they would send the series to a third game, but with 3:36 to go in the third, Dave Groendyk scored for the Flyers to tie it up at 2-2. Less than a minute later, Joel VanVeller scored another goal for the Flyers, who suddenly found themselves up 3-2 with less than three minutes to play in the third.
The IceDogs poured on the pressure in the last few minutes, trying their best to tie it up, but the Flyers held on for the 3-2 win.
I'm not even going to pick an individual for the Player of the Game. This was a good, clean game (only one penalty in total) with both teams putting in a real "team effort".
With the victory, the Flyers have won the series and will play in the final series against the winner of the series between the Hawks & Omegas.

In the later game, the defending champion, Hawks were facing elimination.
This game had a "cautious" feel to it, as the game went scoreless until Dave Vanoostveen scored just past the half-way point of the second period. Dan Feenstra scored one more later in the period to give the Hawks a 2-0 lead going into the third.
When Dave Vanoostveen scored again in the first minute of the third, it looked like the Hawks were going to be able to put it on cruise. However, this feeling didn't last long, because two minutes later Chad VanReenen scored to bring the Omegas back to within two goals.
With 5:30 to go in the third, Ryan Nutma scored a huge goal for the Hawks to extend their lead to 4-1. The Omegas didn't give up, and with 1:17 to go, Zach VanReenen scored to cut the Hawks' lead to 4-2. The Omegas continued to pressure, but Devon Deboer scored an empty netter to seal the deal for the Hawks with a 5-2 victory.
Here again, its another tough choice to pick an individual for the Player of the Game, but we'll let Dave Vanoostveen & Mike Ward share the honours.
With this win, the Hawks have tied up the series. These two teams will battle it out for the third and deciding game of the series this coming Friday. The winner will play the Flyers in the Finals, starting on Saturday night.

In last year's playoffs, the Hawks & Omegas played in the first round. The Hawks won that series in three games that ended with a dramatic shootout win. These two teams meet again this year & they did not disappoint. Game 1 was close all the way through, with the Omegas coming out with a 4-3 overtime win.
The Omegas got on the scoreboard first, when Jared Millberry scored his first of two goals in the game. In the dying seconds of the first period, Calvin Pelleboer scored for the Hawks, to tie it up at 1-1.
A few minutes into the second period, the Hawks took the lead when Clint Schenk scored. By the end of the second period, the Omegas re-took the lead with goals from Mark Zylstra & Jared Millberry.
Early in the third, Dave Vanoostveen scored for the Hawks, to tie it up again at 3-3. Although there were a lot of chances for both teams after this, nobody was able to score any more goals in the third - sending it to overtime.
About half-way through the 10 minute overtime period, Dave Giffen scored the game winner for the Omegas. We'll give Dave the nod for Player of the Game. He also got an assist earlier in the game. Ian VanReenen also had a strong game for the Omegas, tallying three assists.

The later game between the Flyers & IceDogs was also a close one. The Flyers came away with a 4-2 win.
Joe Deboer, of the IceDogs, opened the scoring eight minutes into the first period. The Flyers tied it up with two minutes to go in the first, when Ryan Cross scored.
In the second period, the IceDogs got into some penalty trouble, and the Flyers capitalized. Within a five minute span, Joel VanVeller, Sid Karelsen, & Steve Capelle all scored for the Flyers, giving them a 4-1 lead going into the third.
After killing off a few more penalties, the IceDogs made it close when Matt Tamminga scored with just under five minutes to go. The IceDogs continued the pressure after that, but that was as close as they would come.
We'll give the nod for the Player of the Game to Flyers goaltender, Rick Jones, who made some big saves to ensure the Flyers' victory.

The second game for both of these series goes on tonight (Saturday, March 8) @ the RBC Centre.
7:00pm - IceDogs vs. Flyers
8:20pm - Omegas vs. Hawks

The IceDogs and defending champion, Hawks, face elimination in tonight's games.

Sid VanReenen, of the Omegas, reached the 30 minute mark in penalties for the season. He will be suspended from playing in the first regular season game of next season. He is okay to play in his playoff game on Friday (March 7).

Jeff Vanderdeen, of the Cattle Barons, also reached the 30 minute mark in penalties for the season. He will also be suspended from playing in the first game of next season.

Billy Freer, of the Cattle Barons, was handed a "game misconduct" in the late game on Friday. For this, he will also be suspended from playing the first game next season.

The early game saw the IceDogs beat the Stars 7-6 in overtime.
The first two periods were pretty even. Each team scored a goal in the first, and the IceDogs went into the third up 3-2.
Half-way through the third, the IceDogs had scored three more goals, and with a 6-2 lead, looked like they would skate away with a commanding victory.
With eight minutes to go in the third, the Stars desperately fought their way back into it by scoring four consecutive goals.
After tying it up and sending the game to overtime, the Stars hoped to clinch a playoff berth and pulled their goalie in overtime to go hard for the extra point. After two minutes with lots of chances for the Stars, the IceDogs hung on & were able to score the game winner into the empty net.
Matt Tamminga & Jordan DeBoer each had three points for the IceDogs, including Matt's game winning goal (which was assisted by Jordan). Risser Wierenga & Jeff Sit each had three points for the Stars. Risser scored the goal that tied it up with just over a minute to go in the third. Jeff scored a hat-trick for the Stars, including the two goals that essentially got the Stars back in the game. Dale Moesker had a four point game for the Stars, including three assists in the final eight minutes of the third period comeback.
Its pretty tough to pick any one of these five guys, so I'll just "cop-out" and have them share the Player of the Game honours.

With the Stars failure to win the early game, the Omegas took matters into their own hands by beating the Hawks 10-3 in the middle game. In doing so, the Omegas earned the fourth playoff seed, and kept the Stars out of the playoffs for the fifth straight season.
The Omegas certainly came to play in this one. They embarrassed the top-seeded Hawks in the first period by scoring seven unanswered goals. After that, things evened out a bit, but the game was already "over" by that point.
Dave Giffen had three points for the Omegas, but the Player of the Game is Lance Ross. He had five points for the Omegas, including four goals.

The late game saw the Flyers beat the Cattle Barons 10-7. The win gave the Flyers the second seed going into the playoffs.
The Cattle Barons held the lead after the first period at 2-1.
The Flyers took over the lead in the second period by scoring four goals. They went into the third up 5-3.
The third period got a little wild with nine goals being traded between the two teams.
Jeff Vanderdeen had three points for the Cattle Barons. Dave Groendyk & Matt VanMarum each had three points for the Flyers.
We'll let O.J. Deelstra, Dan VanReenen, & Tyler Veenendaal share the Player of the Game honours for this one. O.J. had five points, including four goals, for the Cattle Barons. Dan & Tyler each had four points for the Flyers. Dan scored a hat-trick.

I just got word from the RBC Centre that we got bumped by a half hour on Saturday, March 8 and on Saturday, March 15.
Here is what the playoff schedule looks like since these changes have been made:

Friday, March 7 @ Point Edward Arena
7:00pm - Hawks vs. 4th
8:20pm - 2nd vs. 3rd

Saturday, March 8 @ RBC Centre (rink 2)
7:00pm - 3rd vs. 2nd
8:20pm - 4th vs. Hawks

Friday, March 14 @ Point Edward Arena
7:00pm - teams to be determined
8:20pm - (if necessary) teams to be determined

Saturday, March 15 @ RBC Centre (rink 2)
7:00pm - finalists

Friday, March 21 @ Point Edward Arena
7:00pm - finalists

Saturday, March 29 @ RBC Centre (rink 2)
6:30pm - finalists

All of this can be found in the "Schedule" section of this website.